Millennials Not Ashamed to Live at Home

PATRICK SISSON | October 12, 2017

For the first time on record, living at home with parents has become the most common living situation for adults ages 18 to 34, according to Pew research.
More than one-third of young adults ages 18 to 34 live at their parents’ home, according to Census data, and the percentage continues to grow. In 2005, 26 percent of young adults lived at their parents’ home. In 2015, the percentage grew to 34.1 percent. In 2016, 15 percent of 25- to 35-year-old millennials were living in their parents’ home, a much larger share than previous generations.
Rising home prices, coupled with difficulty saving for a down payment and increasing student loan debt, have prevented a big portion of the large generation from moving out on their own. Living at home has also grown more acceptable and less stigmatized than it was even just a few years ago, researchers note.
“We don’t hear that stereotype of the lazy millennial discourse in the media like we did five or 10 years ago,” Nancy Worth, a researcher at the University of Waterloo and a researcher for the Gen Y at Home study, told Curbed.com. “Now, you’re hearing how smart, strategic, and lucky young people are for staying home. It’s seen as the smart, strategic choice.”
Jean Twenge, professor of psychology at San Diego State University and author of “Generation Me, iGen,” told Curbed.com the tendency to stay at home longer is also reflected by the fact that young adults are increasingly delaying romantic partnerships, getting married and having children.
“The entire developmental pathway has slowed down,” she says. “Younger kids aren’t given as much independence and responsibility as they used to, and it’s taken longer to grow into adulthood.”
Intergenerational households are becoming the norm.
“It’s mutual reliance; it’s a two-way back-and-forth support for housework, errands, getting the groceries, and sharing the tasks of running a home,” Worth says. “You’re starting to see the beginnings of intergenerational households.”